Friday, March 31, 2006

Measuring the Pulse of the Political Blogosphere, April 5

On Wednesday, April 5, at 7:30 p.m. in the Norman James Theatre, Washington College's William James Forum will present "The Political Blogosphere," a panel discussion with four bloggers from the right and left of the political spectrum. The event is free and open to the public.

A "blog" (the word is a contraction of "web log") is a web site where one or a group of "bloggers" publish thoughts, commentary, analysis, or reviews. This phenomenon—now called the "blogosphere"—has exploded across the web and has helped to create a new era of web journalism and electronic democracy whose ramifications are still being felt in the political realm and by the traditional print and broadcast media.

The panel consists of four bloggers with decidedly political bents but different relationships to blogging: Steven Clemons of TheWashingtonNote.com; Robert A. George of Ragged Thots; Matt Stoller of Jon Corzine's 2005 New Jersey gubernatorial campaign and MyDD.com; and Paul Zummo of Confirm Them and The Political Spectrum.

Steven Clemons, of TheWashingtonNote.com, directs the New America Foundation's American Strategy Program, whose purpose is to promote a new American internationalism by updating what is best in America's foreign policy tradition for the 21st century. A specialist in U.S.-Asia policy and U.S. foreign policy matters as well as broad international economic and security affairs, Clemons previously served as the Executive Vice President of the Economic Strategy Institute. He has also served as Senior Policy Advisor on Economic and International Affairs to Senator Jeff Bingaman and was the first Executive Director or the Japan America Society of Southern California and co-founded the Japan Policy Research Institute, of which he is still Director.

Clemons writes frequently on matters of foreign policy, defense, and international economic policy, and his work has appeared in most of the major leading OP-ED pages, journals, and magazines around the world. Visit his blog at http://thewashingtonnote.com.

Besides blogging at Ragged Thots, Robert George is currently the Associate Editorial Page Editor for the New York Post. He writes several editorials a week on a diverse array of social and political topics and occasional OP-EDs. He is also a columnist for National Review Online and a regular CNN contributor. Previously, George has served as Director of Coalitions for the Republican National Committee, and from January 1995 through May 1998 he served as Special Assistant and Senior Writer to the Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, Newt Gingrich.

George is an Adjunct Fellow with the Center For New Black Leadership, a national African-American advocacy group exploring entrepreneurial and free-market issues, and at Third Millennium, an organization dedicated to multi-generational public policy issues. You can read his Ragged Thots at http://raggedthots.blogspot.com.

Matt Stoller, of MyDD.com, was one of the co-creators of "The Blogging of the President," which explored the ongoing digital transformation of politics first in blog format and later as a nationally syndicated talk radio show from Minnesota Public Radio. At the 2004 Democratic National Convention, Stoller was in charge of blogger credentialing. He has testified before the Federal Election Commission on the role of electronic media in politics and is the co-author with Chris Bowers of a report on electronic communities in politics.

Stoller has also worked for General Wesley Clark's presidential candidacy, Simon Rosenberg's campaign for DNC chair, and most recently for New Jersey gubernatorial candidate Jon Corzine's official blog, the Corzine Connection. You can read Stoller's blog athttp://www.mydd.com.

Blogger Paul Zummo began posting on The Political Spectrum, a bi-partisan group of bloggers, and now frequently blogs for Confirm Them, a site dedicated to getting President Bush's judicial appointments confirmed, which made a splash attacking the Supreme Court nomination of Harriet Miers. Zummo is a research analyst at the American Public Power Association and a doctoral student at Catholic University where he is working on a dissertation critiquing Jeffersonian style liberalism and democracy. You can read his commentary online at http://www.confirmthem.com.